Twenty years ago, a young Austrian woman with big musical dreams arrived in the United States with an “entrepreneurial spirit” considered rare for her homeland.

“Here, you are encouraged, not only by family but by society to do that crazy, outrageous dream, whether it’s acting in LA., writing a book or being a musician,” Ariane Cap said. “In Austria, there’s a lot of skepticism. It’s ‘Why would you want to do that?’ There’s not really a belief in someone.”

Though Cap long ago conquered that enterprising quest of running the successful StepUp Music in Vallejo as she became a much sought-after bass player, there was a void that a Green Card couldn’t fill.

She couldn’t vote.

So this past Tuesday, Cap and 2,600 others were sworn in as citizens of the United States of America at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

“It’s been a long journey,” Cap said, 48 hours after the “amazing” experience of raising her right hand with so many others from so many other countries.

Cap said she’s been “blown away” by the support from friends and fellow musicians with hundreds acknowledging her achievement on her Facebook page.

“It’s quite remarkable,” she said, acknowledging that at the Staples Center ceremony “there were tears, definitely. It was a celebration.”

Cap said she realizes there were many of those sworn in “who have gone through much more than me, coming here (to America) with nothing but their backpacks.”

Yet, gaining U.S. citizenship “is a life-altering moment,” said Cap.”There are two things you can’t do with only a Green Card: You can’t do jury duty and you can’t vote. I think I’ve gotten 10 jury duty letters and every time I send it back with copies of my Green Card and say, ‘Sorry, I’m not allowed.'”

Unlike many who try to skirt a jury summons, Cap looked forward to it “as long as it doesn’t interfere with touring.”

Voting? That’s a different matter. It’s a done deal, though likely she’ll vote by mail.

“I’m a very opinionated person,” Cap said. “But if a conversation (about politics) got deeper, I’d have to say, ‘Well, I can’t vote.'”

Now she can.

“Sitting there with 2,600 other people and on the big screen with a big list of all these countries (represented) and realizing there are more countries that aren’t free than ones that are free,” Cap said. “I had a lot of gratitude.”

Cap was handed a voter registration card when she entered the building and told to fill it out “but you can’t sign them because you’re not a citizen yet,” she said.

When the ceremony ended, “we waved our little flags, did our oath and they said, ‘Now you can sign.'”

Cap was a college student out of Vienna when she landed Florida 20 years ago. Classically trained by passionate about jazz, she practiced every waking moment.

“If you are a jazz musician in Austria, you’re not really taken seriously,” Cap says.

Granted, to get here, “there was a lot of hoops to jump through, a lot of paperwork,” she said.

Cap secured a second scholarship and a student visa.

“You don’t know if you’re going to stay or go back. So you’re in this limbo,” she said.

Cap applied for an “Extraordinary Ability Visa” with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but the lawyer she and her husband hired vanished.

“She disappeared on us with all the paperwork,” Cap said. “She skipped the country or something. We had to start over. It was a disaster.”

Fortunately, Cap got the Green Card — securing it a year before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“It was lucky timing,” she said. “After 9/11 happened, everyone with a student visa was sent home. It was pretty close.”

It was always somewhat surprising when Americans would discuss freedom and patriotism, Cap said.

“I was free (in Austria) but you never talked about it,” she said. “I have to say that after going through the whole process, it is a big deal.”

After gaining two Green Card extensions, Cap said she “thought for a long time” whether to become a dual citizen.

“At first I wasn’t sure. Wanting to vote became a big part of it,” she said.

Cap appreciates the Austrian form of government that offers numerous party options “and I miss that. There’s a lot of debate and back-and-forth and that’s a good process. Here, the country is 50-50 divided and very polarized. It’s hard to talk about an issue without people getting emotional and I think that’s really unfortunate.”

Though Cap had to answer numerous questions and deal with the paperwork of citizenship, it was nothing like first gaining entry into the U.S. for a Green Card, she said.

“They had to make sure I wasn’t a terrorist and that I never had more than one marriage at a time. It was around 100 questions,” she said.

It’s a time-consuming and complicated legal process to get to where she is, Cap said.

“You have to be extremely careful. If you put one thing before the other, you’re out,” she said.

With election day Nov. 6 closing in, Cap can’t wait.

“I’m really looking forward to that and really looking forward to informing myself,” she said. “And I’m really looking forward to the local elections.”

While sitting at the citizenship ceremony flanked by one man from South Korea and another from the Dominican Republic, Cap pondered the coin toss of one’s beginning.

“It’s such a wicked thing, the place you happened to be born and it makes a huge impact on your life,” Cap said.

The bass player was actually close to being born in America. Her parents were already here with her father teaching at Princeton. But her mom, 40 and along in the pregnancy, yearned to have her daughter born in Austria.

“So she flew home to give birth to me,” said Cap, only a few weeks old when her mother returned to the United States. A year later, the family was back in Innsbruck.

“Maybe that first trip planed my love for America,” Cap said.

As for that whole jury thing. It’s not something that should be taken lightly, Cap said.

“It’s an insight into our judicial process and its long and very strong history,” she said. “It recognizes the right of the individual. It’s pretty amazing. The system has its problems, no doubt about it. But it’s the best we’ve got.”